


Bats and Cats

by Headfulloffantasies



Category: Batman Beyond
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Ghost Hunting, Jokerz - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26991055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Headfulloffantasies/pseuds/Headfulloffantasies
Summary: What should have been a silly ghost hunt turns into something much more dangerous.
Relationships: Terry McGinnis/Dana Tan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Bats and Cats

Between Batman and homework, Terry forgot about Halloween. Until Dana tackled him in the school hallway. His book tumbled onto the floor. Dana unrepentantly watched him pick them up. When he straightened, she grabbed the front of his jacket.

“What costume are you doing this year?” Dana demanded. “We should match!”

Terry’s brain briefly short circuited, thinking she meant his Batman suit.

Max sauntered over, saving him. “What are you talking about, Dana?”

“It’s spooky season!” Dana threw her hands over her head. “We have to do something!”

“Like what?” Max raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Like summon a ghost!” Dana exclaimed.

Max turned her disdain on Terry. “Call me when you guys get arrested, okay?”

“Max,” Dana whined. “You’re not being fun.”

“Oh, I am plenty fun,” Max shot back. “I just don’t want to get caught breaking and entering on a Friday night because some white girl wants to practice her wicca vibes.”

“That’s not how wicca works,” Dana pouted. “And we won’t break into anything. The church is open to the public.”

Max scoffed. “A church? This is Gotham. You have fun with your middle school party.”

“You think you can do better?” Dana challenged.

Max smirked. “You bring the Ouija board; I’ll get the address. Text me in an hour.” 

“You got it,” Dana grinned. 

The warning bell rang and the hallways emptied. 

Dana leaned over to kiss Terry’s cheek. “See you after class.” She sauntered off swinging her hips.

Max and Terry walked towards algebra together. “Why do I get the feeling I just agreed to everything Dana wanted?” Max complained.

Terry laughed. “It’s her superpower. I’ve stopped fighting it.”

“Are you even going to be able to go with us?” Max asked. “Or is Mr. Wayne keeping you busy tonight?”

Terry smiled. “I’ve got a rare night off. You’d better pick a good place; I don’t get out much.”

Max groaned. 

They arrived at their class at waved good-bye to each other.

Halfway through the lecture Terry’s phone vibrated. Max had sent an address in a group message with Dana. She tagged it with a text. 

No peeking ;)

All Terry could tell from the address was that it was on the west side, somewhere near the docks.

Dana met Terry on the steps of the school after the final bell. 

“I’m so excited I could plotz!” She hopped up and down in front of him. 

Terry laughed. 

Max jogged down the stairs to join them.

“So, where’s this mystery haunted house?” Dana demanded.

“Follow me,” Max smiled like the Cheshire cat. 

She led the way into the subway. They waited for a train headed west. The tunnel was too cramped with after school and after work commuters to talk. At last they boarded their train. Terry stood gripping the rail with the two girls sitting in front of him.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Dana asked. Terry looked down at her. Her dark eyes glowed with excitement.

Max scoffed. “Everything has an explanation,” she said.

Terry thought of Bill Wallace and the green glow that kept him awake after his body had decayed into nothing. He purposefully did not think of Tim Drake and the monster that hid under his skin, dormant and dead for years before reemerging. 

Terry shuddered. “What’s dead should stay dead,” he said.

“Boring,” Dana declared. She kicked his shin with her clunky black boots. “Ghosts let us stay in contact with the secret energies of the universe.”

“I have enough secrets in my life,” Terry said before he could stop himself. 

Max shot him an alarmed look. Dana narrowed her eyes. The train rattled to a halt at their station; saving Terry from his fate.

Max became more animated the longer Dana egged her to give up the secret location of their outing. Max leaped ahead of them, practically running through the warehouses and fisheries on her way to the docks. They passed between two old buildings stinking of soggy wood and stagnant water.

On the other side of the buildings, the Gotham harbour spread all the way to the horizon. The setting sun painted the water orange and pink and purple. 

“Oh,” Dana breathed. 

Terry concurred. If they turned around now, he’d call this night worth it just for the view. Terry looked at Dana. He wished it was just the two of them. He’d love to pretend he brought her here alone on a date. They could watch the sun sink into the harbour while they held hands. His fingers twitched to reach for hers.

“Come on,” Max tugged at his sleeve. “We’re almost there.”

They rounded a corner. At the end of a dock, a gate with a striped ticket booth greeted them. The swooping sign read G-tham Carn-v-l. Beyond the chain link fence all the games and rides still stood. They leaned with age and disuse, but they still held onto their foundations at the edge of the water. Terry spotted a carousel and a rusting virtual reality pad. The old roller coaster rose out of the ground like the spine of a sea serpent’s skeleton. 

“Ta da!” Max spread her arms to encompass the peeling paint and rust. 

“Woah,” Dana touched the ticket booth’s cracked window. “Is it safe?”

Max planted her hands on her hips. “Girl, you were going to walk into a condemned church before I led you here.”

Max climbed over the rusted chain link. “C’mon, this place is wicked.”

Dana shot Terry a hesitant look. She bit her lip. 

Terry shrugged. “I’m game if you are.”

Dana set her jaw. She hiked up over the fence. Terry followed closely, tightening his grip on his backpack straps. 

Past the ticket booth they got to see the full scope of the amusement park. Terry turned a circle on the cracked pavement. The park branched out like a wheel from the carousel. To the left, booths of games with moldy prize toys made a camp of leaning shacks. To the right the Tunnel of Love yawned wide. Someone had painted it bright green and purple and red in layers of illegible graffiti. 

Dana shuffled closer to the carousel. She poked at one of the decapitated horses.

“Is this place schway or what?” Max spread her arms. 

“You definitely delivered the creepy vibes,” Dana admitted. She smiled like a shark. “I’ve got chills.”

“I haven’t even told you the best part,” Max winked. She jumped onto one of the carousel horses. From atop her steed she announced, “This park used to belong to the Joker!”

Terry’s blood turned to ice. “Are you kidding me?” 

“Lighten up, Terry,” Dana nudged him. “The clown’s dead. Oh!” She clapped her hands. “We should summon his ghost!”

“Absolutely not,” Terry declared. His gaze roamed over the dilapidated rides with a razor precision he hadn’t used before. “We’re leaving.”

“I’m not,” Dana crossed her arms. “You can go ahead, but I want to stay.”

“Dana,” Terry started. A noise drew his attention. Something moved in the Tunnel of Love. A sound started like the scraping of glass on cement. It resolved into grating laughter. 

A figure emerged from the Tunnel. He wore a purple suit with tails dragging on the ground. Terry couldn’t discern his face through the thick white grease paint. He carried a pillowcase like a sack. The sack moved. 

Behind the figure came another and another person. The first had a rainbow wig on his head. The next had a frilly collar and massive buttons down the front of his shirt. Jokerz. More and more crept out of the shadows. They formed a chuckling circle around Terry, Dana, and Max. Terry counted six Jokerz total. Max slowly climbed down off the carousel horse. 

“What do we have here?” The dreg in the purple suit asked. Terry sneered. He knew the actual Joker. The clown prince of crime would be ashamed of his pathetic legacy.

“We were just leaving,” Terry said.

“Oh, but the penalty for trespassing on Jokerz territory is staying to play a game,” the lead Joker grinned. His face paint smudged on the purple collar of his shirt. 

“A game! A game!” The other Jokerz chanted.

“And here we thoughts the only funnies we were going to have today was drowning this pussy cat,” the dreg swung his sack. The bag howled. 

The others cackled. They closed in closer. Terry scanned for exits. 

A girl in a tutu grabbed Max’s arm. 

“Get off me!”” Max slapped her. The girl stumbled and tripped. She hit the ground. The laughing stopped. Terry’s heart rate spiked. 

The lead Joker took a step forward. He growled. “Get ‘em.”

“Run!” Terry yelled. Dana shot off towards the game booths. Max peeled in the opposite direction. Terry cursed himself. He should have led them. Four of the Jokerz chased after Max. Terry dove to help her.

A frilly collared clown leaped at Max. Max dodged. Another clown managed to snag her arm. He landed a punch in her ribs. Max doubled over.

“Max!” Terry had almost reached her.

Dana screamed. Terry whirled around. A clown in a polka dotted suit wrapped his huge forearms around Dana’s waist. He lifted her clean off her feet. 

Terry moved. He dropped into a slide and lifted his foot. His boot connected solidly with the back of the clown’s knee. The clown went down. Dana wriggled free. Terry snagged her hand. 

“This way,” Terry dragged Dana in the direction of the entrance. They barrelled around the carousel and dove into the maze of game booths. Whack a mole and ring toss games blurred as they ran. Terry heard footsteps pounding behind them. He shoved Dana ahead of him. 

“Run!” Terry shouted.

Pain exploded through Terry’s skull. He hit the ground hard. The fading light glinting off the broken carnival lights spun in his vision. The polka dotted Joker stepped into Terry’s field of view. The clown leered. He raised another meaty fist. Terry lifted his arm to fend off the attack. 

A rock soared through the air. It smacked the clown square between the eyes. The clown shouted. He doubled over clutching his head. 

Terry dragged himself to his feet. Dana stood with another rock in her hand, her arm cocked back to throw it. Her lips curled in the most fearsome expression Terry had ever seen twist her face. Terry ran to her. Without pausing, he caught her wrist and tugged her with him.

“We have to go!”

They reached the gate at last. Terry dragged Dana into the shadow of the ticket booth. He pulled her into a crouch. His breaths rattled in his ears. 

Dana looked as pale as death. Her hands shook in his.

“Listen,” Terry gulped. “You gotta call the police. Get help. Don’t wait for me.” Terry stood. 

Dana yanked him back down by his backpack. “Don’t be stupid,” she hissed. “You can’t fight them.”

“I have to get Max,” Terry insisted.

“You can’t leave me,” Dana’s wide eyes filled with tears. “Don’t leave.”

Terry curled an arm around her shoulders. He planted a kiss on top of her head. “You can do this. Get help.”

Terry stood again. He ran before Dana could stop him. 

Terry took a winding route through the park, keeping low and to the shadows. He found a duck shooting booth with most of its walls still intact. He dove inside and quickly yanked on his batsuit. The familiar black fabric slid on like a second skin. The computer flashed red across his vision as it booted up.

“Bruce, you there?” Terry whispered. He knew it was pointless. Bruce had his mysterious appointment until after midnight. 

Fine. Terry could do this alone. He’d been Batman for months. He could do this.

Find Max, get out. Easy.

Jokerz typically had the subtlety of a brick to the face. Terry followed the hoots and hollers back towards the Tunnel of Love. He found one clown guarding the entrance to the Tunnel. A single batarang took him out. 

The Tunnel’s heart shaped entrance yawned. Terry strained his ears. Cackles floated up from the stairs. Terry slid into the shadows and descended. 

The dark only lasted to the bottom of the steps. A slash of light stabbed out from under a door. Terry pressed his hand to the door and activated the listening devices in the batsuit.

Voices flowed into the mask. 

“Girl’s got spice.”

“I don’t see why we can’t have a go.”

“Just wait your turn.”

“He’s gonna leave us with just the cat again.”

“If he doesn’t kill her first.”

Terry heard enough. He burst through the door. Boats with rotted out bottoms were strewn across the empty canal where the ride used to run. Four Jokerz leaned against the boats. They yelled as Batman surged forwards. Terry knocked the first Joker off his feet with a clean tackle. The other three ganged up on Terry. He didn’t have time for a brawl. He had to get to Max. 

Terry tossed a smoke bomb. The Jokerz coughed and swore as the smoke filled the dim room. Terry leaped up into the rafters. 

From his perch, Terry pinpointed his targets. Two batarangs took out two Jokerz in quick succession. Terry dropped on top of the last one. 

Terry crossed the floor to where the old-fashioned tracks snaked out through another tunnel. Terry followed the tracks. They exited the tunnel, up into the light of the dying sun. The tracks had collapsed, leaving broken shards ending in a twenty-foot drop. But off to one side, a platform held a scaffold of tools and abandoned equipment.

Two figures struggled on the platform. 

“Hey!” Terry shouted. 

The dreg wrestling with Max snarled. He flicked his wrist and produced a knife. The Joker clutched Max to his chest. The knife gleamed at Max’s throat.

“Let her go,” Terry growled. 

The Joker in the purple suit eyed him up and down. “You don’t look so scary up close. You’re kind of skinny, you know that?”

Terry didn’t speak. He knew exactly what he looked like silhouetted against the blood red sunset. Like a demon out of hell. 

“Let the girl go,” Terry growled.

“Whatever you want,” the Joker laughed. He shoved Max right off the platform. She screamed, falling straight for the pavement. 

Terry dove after her. He caught Max around the middle. The rockets in his boots activated. He shot up, back to the platform. Terry carefully set Max on her feet. The Joker was gone. 

“Are you okay?” Terry asked. 

Max huffed. “I will be. Thank you.”

Something moved by Terry’s boot. The Joker had dropped his pillowcase sack. The cat still trapped inside howled. Terry reached down and undid the knot. A kitten, no bigger than Terry’s hand, wobbled out of the sack. She had black fur with a little white chest and a black patch right at her throat. She rubbed her face all over Terry’s glove. 

“I think you made a friend,” Max giggled. 

*** 

Terry brought the cat with him the next day to the Bat Cave. 

“How was your meeting?” Terry called as he descended the stairs into the dark. Bruce hunkered over his computer screens. Ace’s head popped up, his nose wiggling. The great Dane barked once and loped over to Terry. His tail waved hello to the cat wiggling in Terry’s arms. Ace sniffed her. She bopped his nose. Ace barked his approval. 

Bruce swiveled in his chair. His eyebrows lowered. “What is that?”

“A cat,” Terry brought her over. Bruce recoiled. Terry placed the kitten carefully on the floor. She tottered across the floor. Ace danced around her, excited by the new friend. 

“Did you see her spot?” Terry pointed to the bow tie shape on the cat’s chest. “She looks like a butler!” Terry laughed.

Bruce’s shoulders hunched.

Terry scooped up the cat and dropped it in Bruce’s lap just to watch him squirm. “What should we name her?” 

Wayne’s thin hand came up to stroke the top of the cat’s head. “Alfred,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Come chat with me on Tumblr @headfulloffantasies


End file.
